Tagged: climate change

Climate Commission is cleared for takeoff: James Renwick talks ice, snow, and climate action - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Feb 10, 2020 •

• carbon budget,
• climate change,
• Climate Commission,
• Larsen B,
• Paris Agreement,
• school strikes

James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change Commission, which will recommend carbon budgets and mitigation strategies to … Read More

A multitude of drops: Social tipping points in climate action - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Jan 24, 2020 •

• climate change,
• decarbonisation,
• planetary boundaries

If you’re here, you probably know that the climate crisis is upon us, that it’s getting steadily worse, and that attempts to address it haven’t worked yet. People are still driving and even advertising SUVs with impunity, and oil companies are exploring like crazy, even in New Zealand. Politically, socially, economically, it’s a challenging problem. In Social tipping dynamics … Read More

Controversy? Or Manufactroversy? - Unsorted

Alison Campbell • Jan 22, 2020 •

• climate change,
• curiculum,
• education,
• schools

A few days ago, New Zealand’s Minister of Education announced the wider release of a resource on climate change, which was initially trialled at a Christchurch school during 2018. According to the Minister, children will learn about “the role science plays in understanding climate change, aids understanding of both the response to it and its impacts – globally, nationally … Read More

The climate crisis is also a biodiversity crisis - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jan 08, 2020 •

• Australian bushfires,
• Biodiversity,
• biodiversity crisis,
• bushfire,
• climate change,
• ecology

Dr Andrea Byrom Like many of us, the summer break has seen me transfixed with horror at the scale and magnitude of the bushfire crisis in Australia. As an ecologist, I can’t help but be appalled at the loss of some of Australia’s most beautiful ecosystems and landscapes. And as someone who experienced all 20,000 (and counting) Christchurch earthquakes, … Read More

Tourism and the ETS - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Dec 20, 2019 •

• carbon emissions,
• climate change,
• emissions trading scheme,
• ETS,
• tourism

Eloise Gibson covers the carbon costs of tourism over at Newsroom: But in reality: “value-led tourism growth may actually worsen those pressures that are linked with consumption. Higher-value visitors, by definition, consume more goods and services, all of which have an associated greenhouse gas and solid waste footprint. To the extent that these goods and services are relatively energy … Read More

Which countries are likely to meet their Paris Agreement targets - Climate: Explained

Robert McLachlan • Dec 18, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• Paris Agreement

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Which countries in the world have met or bettered their Paris Agreement targets? Robert McLachlan, Massey University The … Read More

Seven reasons to be wary of waste-to-energy proposals - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Dec 11, 2019 •

• climate change,
• incineration,
• landfills,
• waste,
• waste-to-energy

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t had any landfill since the early 2000s, because … Read More

How climate change will affect food production and security - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Dec 04, 2019 •

• Agriculture,
• climate change,
• food production,
• food shortage

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz According to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat due to climate change. Are food shortages a … Read More

How much does flying contribute to climate change? - Climate: Explained

Shaun Hendy • Nov 27, 2019 •

• aircraft,
• carbon,
• climate change,
• flying,
• Transport

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz How much does our use of air travel contribute to the problem of climate change? And is it more damaging … Read More

Why coastal floods are becoming more frequent as seas rise - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Nov 20, 2019 •

• climate change,
• coastal flooding,
• sea level rise,
• tides

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I saw an article claiming that “king tides” will increase in frequency as sea level … Read More